Method and apparatus of providing messaging service and callback feature to mobile stations

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are an apparatus and method of performing automated administrative operations on a mobile device. One example method may include determining via a hosted server that an action needs to be performed by a mobile device under management. The method may further include generating a message via the hosted server, the message includes the action, and transmitting the message to the mobile device under management, and receiving a result message from the mobile device under management responsive to the transmitted message, the result message indicating that the action has been satisfied.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method and apparatus of providing amessaging service and related features to mobile stations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Phones are becoming increasingly popular computing platforms whichperform the same operations as computers and other computing deviceplatforms. Aside from the limited real estate of the hand held devicesand related smartphone displays, such devices still have enoughprocessing power to become the new computing platform for everydaycomputing. In fact, smartphones and other handheld computing devicestend to have better network connectivity and portability than thecurrent devices used in today's computing environment.

The voice feature of the smartphone may be considered a mere telephoneapplication as opposed to a primary function. Voice communication is nomore or less important than other communication mechanisms, such as chatand email, and is no more or no less important than other applicationclasses, such as word processing and web browsing. The public perceptionof “phones” has finally begun to change after the introduction of thetablet computing device (e.g., iPad®). At the current rate of technologytrends, there will be much fewer desktops and laptops in 5-10 years,similar to the way mainframe computers have become almost entirelyobsolete.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One embodiment of the present invention may include a method ofdetermining via a hosted server that at least one action needs to beperformed by at least one mobile device under management. The method mayalso include generating at least one message via the hosted server, theat least one message comprising the at least one action, transmittingthe at least one message to the mobile device under management, andreceiving a result message from the mobile device under managementresponsive to the transmitted at least one message, the result messageindicating that the action has been satisfied.

Another example embodiment of the present invention may include anapparatus including a processor configured to determine via a hostedserver that at least one action needs to be performed by at least onemobile device under management, and generate at least one message viathe hosted server, the at least one message comprising the at least oneaction. The apparatus may also include a transmitter configured totransmit the at least one message to the mobile device under management,and a receiver configured to receive a result message from the mobiledevice under management responsive to the transmitted at least onemessage, the result message indicating that the action has beensatisfied.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication network configuration,according to example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates another example communication network configuration,according to an example method of operation of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates yet another example communication networkconfiguration, according to an example method of operation of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example router configuration, according to anexample embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example network configuration of a scriptgeneration and delivery procedure according to example embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example network configuration of a tokencommunication procedure according to example embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example network configuration of an automatedapplication push configuration according to example embodiments.

FIGS. 8-26 illustrate example screenshots of example graphical userinterfaces (GUIs) and user initiated operations, according to exampleembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 27 illustrates an example network entity device configured to storeinstructions, software, and corresponding hardware for executing thesame, according to example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 28 illustrates an example method of operation, according to exampleembodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It will be readily understood that the components of the presentinvention, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein,may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of differentconfigurations. Thus, the following detailed description of theembodiments of a method, apparatus, and system, as represented in theattached figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the invention asclaimed, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of theinvention.

The features, structures, or characteristics of the invention describedthroughout this specification may be combined in any suitable manner inone or more embodiments. For example, the usage of the phrases “exampleembodiments”, “some embodiments”, or other similar language, throughoutthis specification refers to the fact that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentmay be included in at least one embodiment of the present invention.Thus, appearances of the phrases “example embodiments”, “in someembodiments”, “in other embodiments”, or other similar language,throughout this specification do not necessarily all refer to the samegroup of embodiments, and the described features, structures, orcharacteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments.

In addition, while the term “message” has been used in the descriptionof embodiments of the present invention, the invention may be applied tomany types of network data, such as, packet, frame, datagram, etc. Forpurposes of this invention, the term “message” also includes packet,frame, datagram, and any equivalents thereof. Furthermore, while certaintypes of messages and signaling are depicted in exemplary embodiments ofthe invention, the invention is not limited to a certain type ofmessage, and the invention is not limited to a certain type ofsignaling.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network configuration according to exampleembodiments. Referring to FIG. 1, a mobile agent router 10 handlescertain provisioning operations for the end user/mobile devices 20. Themobile devices 20 may include a cellular phone, mobile station, tabletcomputing device and/or a smartphone configured to communicate with abase station and/or a WiFi communication service provider (e.g., networkrouter).

Once the mobile agent router 10 performs a provisioning operation, eachmobile device 20 communicates directly with one of the hosted server(s)40A. The server configuration provides the scalability to support tensof thousands of mobile devices 20. The servers 40A are configured tomanage device communications and are configured to provide control overthe configurations needed for mobile devices 20 to access the carriernetworks 30 and notification services (e.g., short messaging service(SMS)).

Communication between the different servers 40A-40C is performed byusing web-based services. In addition, communication from mobile devices20 to the hosted servers 40A is also performed using web services. Thehosted servers 40A provides a limited amount of queuing capabilities,however, the servers do provide a concentrator for communication to themobile devices 20. It is possible to run the communication configurationwithout the servers in which case the mobile devices will communicatedirectly with the customer servers 40B and 40C. It is also possible tomanage mobile devices directly from the hosted servers 40A.

The agents or administrative users 121 respond to asynchronous requestsvia a user interface (UI) 105. The communication may be provided by anotification mechanism. In one example, a SMS is used as thenotification mechanism that traverses different communication platforms(e.g., cellular, Internet, private data network, etc.). Some mobiledevices, such as the iPhone®, may require the use of a privatenotification service in order to implement an asynchronous agentresponse.

Communication with a mobile device may include actions and results. Anaction is a command with zero or more parameters. Parameters areposition-oriented so the meaning of a parameter depends on its positionin the parameter list (i.e., ranking) as well as on the command itself.Parameters are always strings. A command can have optional parameters,and will generally be at the end of the parameter list. Semantically, anaction is a request generated by an administrator to perform anoperation on a device under management (i.e., a mobile device 20). Anaction originates at a hosted server 40A and is processed by a mobiledevice 20.

A result may be an XML string. A result format depends on the actionthat generated the result. Every action elicits a result, even if theresult is only a simple yes/no status on the outcome of the action.Semantically, a result is the result of an action, which originates at amobile device 20, and is processed by a hosted server(s) 40A.

SMS messages generated by a mobile device 20 or a server 40A must beable to carry actions but not necessarily results. SMS messages havetheir own simplified format instead of using XML, which providesefficiency in space requirements since there is such a small limit onSMS message size. Actions included in SMS messages provide functionalityeven when voice or data connectivity is not available or not working,since certain actions can be handled by the mobile device 20 withoutserver 40A interaction.

Provisioning a new device may include a series of operations necessaryto bring a new mobile device into the communication network system. Oncea mobile device 20 has been provisioned, actions may be taken by certainparties, such as allowing administrative users 201 to complete theirpart of the provisioning process. This provisioning procedure mayminimize the amount of input required from the end users of the mobiledevices 20 by providing communication options which are convenient andseamless.

Security of the mobile communication environment may also be increasedby limiting the opportunities for a malicious administrator to take overmanagement of a device simply by knowing information, such as a phonenumber, which is often public information. Additional features mayinclude allowing an evaluation to support the process where mobiledevices 20 are operated in an evaluation mode for some period of timeand then converted to paying customers.

According to example embodiments of the present invention, a system IDmay be generated when the customer server is set up. A relatively shortnumeric code (i.e., 10-digit code) may be used to check digits so thatthe validity can be verified locally. The check digits are used toprevent data entry errors, and thus its generation does not need to becryptographically secure. For example, an ISBN check digit may be used.A device identifier (ID) is generated when the agent begins the firstsession with the mobile device 20.

The device ID may be arbitrarily large and is generally not transmittedin the clear (unsecured). The system ID is communicated from theadministrative user 121 to the end users 20 out-of-band. Each end usermay be required to submit the received system ID to the mobile agent tocomplete the provisioning procedure. For example, the administrativeuser 121 might use SMS or email to send the system ID to the end users,or post it on a corporate web site, etc. If the mobile device 20supports the procedure, the process of clicking on a URL can be used toenter the system ID. This way, the URL can be included in a message oron a web site.

During the provisioning procedure, the device ID is transmitted to themobile agent router 10 and the hosted server 40A, and the address of thehosted server 40A is also transmitted to the mobile agent router 10.Such information also includes the system ID, which is transmitted usingan encrypted protocol such as SSL. The mobile agent router 10 uses thesystem ID to transmit the device ID to the proper hosted server 40A, andalso transmits the address of the proper hosted server 40A to the mobiledevice 20. At this point, the device ID and system ID are stored atvarious different network entities, such as, the mobile device 20, themobile agent router 10, the hosted server(s) 40A managing the devicecommunications, and/or the customer server(s) 40B and 40C managing thedevice. The device ID can be used for subsequent identification andtransmission.

One or more phone numbers for the mobile device 20 must be available inorder to send SMS messages to the mobile device 20. If the mobile agentcan automatically determine the phone number, this process may be used.If not, the end user must manually enter the phone number manually. Theend user always has the option to change the phone number used for themobile device. Whenever the phone number is set or changed, the hostedserver 40A sends an SMS message to the device to verify the numberbefore accepting it as valid. If possible, the mobile agent responds tothe message automatically, otherwise the end user responds for thevalidation procedure.

During the setup of the customer server(s) 40B and 40C, once the systemID is assigned, the mobile agent router and the hosted server arecontacted and the system ID is registered with those devices providing acallback URL to use for web services. At this time, the system ID hasnot been transmitted in the clear at all, so it is safe for the mobileagent router 10 and the hosted server 40A to trust the system ID.

Referring to FIG. 1, according to one example the hosted servers 40A maybe down or otherwise unavailable. The customer server(s) 40B and/or 40Cwill then mark the action as one that needs to be re-tried at a latertime. The action can be too large to fit into the SMS message. In thiscase, a special marker (e.g., web address, file transfer information,metadata, etc.) is inserted into the SMS message instead of the action,and the agent uses a web service to retrieve the action from the hostedserver 40A. The marker may indicate a web address to download the actionfor further processing. According to one example, the SMS message may belost since not all carriers implement store-and-forward for the SMS, soif the mobile device 20 is turned off then the delivery will fail. Thehosted server 40A will retry actions on a periodic basis if nocorresponding result is received (i.e., response message, confirmationmessage, etc). As may be observed, FIGS. 1-4 illustrate example networkconfigurations which may be setup to perform the example provisioning,notification services and related features described throughout thisdisclosure like features and elements illustrated in certain drawingsmay be referred to for similar purposes and functionality in otherdrawings.

SMS notifications, updates and related communication signaling may bereplaced or augmented by a different notification mechanism, protocol,or related communication signaling. In the event that the operationsignaling and message transfers fail during the course of a provisioningoperation, notification operation, updating operation and/or relatedoperation, the agent may create a corresponding result with a failurestatus, and provide as much additional information as possible in theresult to characterize and diagnose the result.

FIG. 2 illustrates a detailed logic diagram of a communication networksystem architecture, according to example embodiments of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 2, an example operation of the system isdescribed in detail below. An administrative user 121 uses a web browseror similar interfacing application to communicate with a server 103using a browser-based protocol, such as, the HTTP protocol. Theadministrative user 121 communicates with the server 103 to monitorand/or manage a plurality of mobile devices by initiating servicerequest messages.

An end user may operate a mobile device 122 that communicates with acellular network 112. The server 103 provides a user interface (UI)component 105 that manages the HTTP interaction with the administrativeuser 121, and also provides a database 104, a message management module(MMM) 107, and a web service module (WSM) 106. When the administrativeuser 121 performs a management and/or monitoring action that requiresaction on one or more of the mobile devices 122, the MMM 107 determineswhich of the mobile devices operating on the cellular network 112 needsto be notified via a notification service.

A signaling procedure for updating a mobile device 122 is described withreference to FIG. 2. The messaging module (MMM) 107 initiates theprocess by implementing a web service protocol, which can instead be aprivate application programming interface (API) to send a request to acommercial SMS service 109 through an API management module 110associated with the service. The request is formatted as a regular SMSmessage, with a certain amount of text and/or a telephone number thatspecifies the address of the mobile device 122. The SMS service uses aprivate interface to communicate with the cellular network 112 to send aSMS message to the mobile device 122. The request may be initiated bythe administrative user 121 and sent to the server 103 to be forwardedto the mobile device 122 as a SMS message to initiate a particularservice (e.g., provisioning, update, etc.).

The mobile device 122 may be one of many mobile devices operating on thecellular network 112. The mobile device 122 may have a short messagingservice (SMS) processing module 119 that receives and processes the SMSmessage(s). The SMS module 119 is integrated within the overalloperating system (OS) 120 of the mobile device 122. The OS 119 providesa hook function to notify a third-party application 117 of the receptionand content of the SMS message received by the mobile device 122. A webservice module (WSM) 116 may be used to communicate with the cellularnetwork 112 and/or the server 103.

A hook is a subroutine that intercepts a call in the operating system120 and diverts it to a different program path. For example, asubroutine may be setup to determine when a particular application eventis accessed or should be accessed. When the event is initiated, asubroutine may interrupt the normal program flow and initiate a programseparate from the OS to perform a specific function. When theapplication 117 is notified, the application 117 processes the text anduses it to implement certain actions required by the request from theadministrative user 121. In order to obtain any additional informationneeded for this operation, or send results from the operation, a webservice module (WSM) 116 may be used to communicate with the WSM 106 onthe server 103 through a web service protocol. This action closes theloop on the operation required by the administrative user 121. Theabove-noted process may take place without any intervention on the partof the end user of the mobile device 122.

The management agent is event-driven, the event server can becentralized (in the “router” 10 of FIG. 1) or distributed (in thevarious servers 40A of FIG. 40A-40C), and the agent is autonomous andcan be intermittently connected to the administrative user 121 and themobile device 122. SMS may be used for notifications, which may preservepower consumption, platform independence, and increased reliability.Public-key message digests may also be used to safely transmitdestructive commands without concerns for malicious spoofing. Theevent-driven architecture of the agent reduces costs for bandwidth, andalso reduces power consumption of the mobile device 122.

FIG. 3 illustrates another example of a complete communication cyclecommunication network. Referring to FIG. 3, in this example, theadministrative user 201 may manually initiate a backup operation on acritical subset of a single user's smartphone phone or mobile device219. The administrative user 201 uses the UI 205 on the customer server204 to select the phone or mobile device 219 and select contactmanagement and initiate a backup operation for selected critical contactgroups.

The server 104 creates an action, which includes assigning a session IDand a sequence number, and stores the action in its correspondingdatabase 209 managed by a database server 208 with a “pending” status.At this point, the administrative user 201 may observe via the server UI205 that the backup procedure has been initiated and is pending for thatparticular device. The action contains a command, which is the “backupcontacts by group” command, and a parameter, which is the list of groupnames for which to back up the contacts.

The server 204 uses a web service 206 to transfer the action to thehosted server 204. The action includes header information that includesan identification of the mobile device 219. The hosted server 204creates a SMS message that includes the action and possibly otheractions that are outstanding for the mobile device 219 and sends thismessage to the mobile device 219. The mobile device 218 receives the SMSmessage and intercepts it since it has the proper header. The user doesnot see the message as the received messages invoke processes, threadsand procedures which are handled in the background of the operatingsystem. Instead, the agent service parses the message and acts on themessage contents. Hiding the message from the user may not be possibleon all devices.

The mobile device 219 may be one of many mobile devices operating on thecellular network 216. The mobile device 219 may have a short messagingservice (SMS) processing module 221 that receives and processes the SMSmessage(s). The SMS module 221 is integrated within the overalloperating system (OS) 220 of the mobile device 219. The OS 220 providesa hook function to notify a third-party application 223 of the receptionand content of the SMS message received by the mobile device 219. A webservice module (WSM) 224 may be used to communicate with the cellularnetwork 216 and/or the server 204. The server 204 may communicate with amobile routing server 218 via a WSM interface 211. The mobile routingserver 218 may transfer data to the cellular network 216 through acommercial SMS service 214. The mobile routing server 218 may interfacewith an application programming interface (API) 213.

The hook may be used as a subroutine that intercepts a call in theoperating system 220 and diverts it to a different program path. Forexample, a subroutine may be setup to determine when a particularapplication event is accessed or should be accessed. When the event isinitiated, a subroutine may interrupt a normal program flow and initiatea new program separate from the OS to perform a specific function. Whenthe application 223 is notified, the application 223 processes the textof the message and uses it to implement certain actions required by therequest from the administrative user 201. In order to obtain anyadditional information needed for this operation, or send results fromthe operation, a web service module (WSM) 224 may be used to communicatewith the WSM 206 on the server 204 through a web service protocol. Thisaction closes the loop on the operation required by the administrativeuser 201. The above-noted process may take place without anyintervention on the part of the end user of the mobile device 219.

The message contains the command for executing the backup operation andthe agent performs the backup for the specified groups of devices. Inperforming this operation, a result is created which contains all thecontact information currently being backed up. The result also includesa command completion code indicating success. The agent uses a webservice to transfer the result to the hosted server 204. The hostedserver 204 then uses a web service to transfer the result to thecustomer server 204, which stores the contact data in its contact backupdatabase 209. The backup operation may be marked as successfullycompleted. At this point, the administrative user 201 may observe viathe customer server UI 205 that the requested backup operation has beensuccessfully completed for that mobile device 219. Contact informationmay include user contact information or third party contact informationassociated with the mobile device.

Referring to FIG. 3, the server UI 205 provides the administrative user201 with a convenient interface for finding and browsing the recordederror information. Such information may be stored in the database 209and corresponding server 208. The server 204 may be down or otherwiseunavailable. The agent has a periodic task to retry queued results thathave not yet been sent. The server 204 also has a retry mechanism. Theadministrative user 201 may want to see any queued results withoutdelay. The server 204 can use a “refresh” operation to update thoseresults.

FIG. 4 illustrates a detailed diagram of a mobile routing server,according to example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 4, input signals 305and 309 may be received from multiple different mobile stations oradministrative devices at receivers configured to receive communicationsignaling. Interfaces provide web service functionality (WS) 310 and 312to receive recipients' selections 303 and 304 and compare that data todata stored in a device table 302. For example, recipient selections 303and 304 may be received to request a specific service, install, upgrade,etc. The received selections 303 and 304 may be compared to a devicetable 302 which includes device information of all the registereddevices. An update may then be invoked and sent to all the registereddevices via the information included in the device table.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example network configuration of a scriptgeneration and delivery procedure according to example embodiments.Referring to FIG. 5, an administrative user 521 may initiate a script550(s) to perform automated update and message transfer operations usedto service the mobile users 20. For example, the administrative user maysetup a script that initiates update operations periodically. The scriptmay be stored in mobile agent router 510 which runs the script andperforms the update operations at the appropriate times dictated by thescript 550.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example network configuration of a tokencommunication procedure according to example embodiments. Referring toFIG. 6, an administrative user 621 may perform an administrativefunction by accessing a software database server 608 to distribute astock piece of software as required by the “app store” model, andcustomize the software on-the-fly to have it report to the correctmanagement console. The method may involve the use of a “semi-privatetoken” 640 that does not have to be carefully guarded and is transmittedto the end user by a variety of communication options. The token 640 maythen be used by a well-known central server or mobile agent router 610to authenticate and route the device to the correct administrativeserver.

The administrative server or mobile agent router 610 my perform a finalauthentication and transact the strong secret tokens needed for securecommunications. The agent deployment mechanism allows the use of asingle installation package, as required by certain application stores,such as Apple or Google's marketplace. The implementation provides asafe mechanism for controlling the devices without excessive complexityon the part of the end user.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example network configuration of an automatedapplication push configuration according to example embodiments.Referring to FIG. 7, an administrative user 721 may initiate aparticular updating procedure or related administrative function to theend users of the mobile devices 720. In operation, a request or commandmay be submitted to the software database server 708 to provide theupdate. The request may be communicated to the mobile agent router 710.An automated application push 740 may be setup to execute at aparticular time to update the mobile devices 720. An automated detectionserver 712 may then be configured to monitor the status of theapplications operating on the mobile device 720 to determine when thenext update should occur. The automated detection server 712 may send aservice reminder to the administrative user 721 to perform the cycleagain when needed.

Data formats used in the various communication operations illustratedabove with respect to FIGS. 1-7 are described in detail below. The twounderlying protocols used may include web services and SMS messages. Thedata structure is independent of the protocol. The abstract datastructure is described first, followed by the implementation in specificprotocols as needed.

There should be a way to uniquely identify mobile devices 20. Atelephone number may be used, however, not all mobile devices are phonesand mobile devices, such as the Ipad® or Ipod may be used without havingan assigned phone number. Also, the same phone may have multiple phonenumbers. Traveling users often buy a different SIM for each countrywhere they are traveling. The agent software may not have easy orreliable access to the phone number. As a result, the mobile agent maygenerate a unique ID when it first runs, and transmit it to the mobileagent router 10 and a corresponding server as part of the provisioningprocess.

The mobile agent could use some type of hardware ID in the phone togenerate a unique ID. If the persistent storage for the generated ID islost (perhaps by resetting the phone, or uninstalling the agent), thephone will still be recognized if the agent is reinstalled. However, ifthe “unique” ID turns out to be not unique, then there is no recourse.The only option would be to tell the customer that the two phones cannotbe under management on the same server.

Each action has a sequence number that is unique for a single device.This sequence number is analogous to the sequence number used in the TCPprotocol. For example, the mobile agent 10 keeps track of the highestsequence numbered action it has processed. If it receives an action witha sequence number less than or equal to the highest sequence number, itdiscards the action. If it receives an action with a sequence number onegreater than the highest sequence number, it processes the action andincrements the highest sequence number. If it receives an action with asequence number more than one greater than the highest sequence number,it queues the action.

The authentication processes used may provide implementing a SSL for allweb service interactions. SMS messages are sent in the clear. A sharedsecret (public keys are not required) may be used. The shared secret canbe exchanged over SSL. A version number may be included in this data, sothat we can change the definition in a backward-compatible way in thefuture.

There are two forms of authentication involved in web services. Forexample, the web service authentication, which is already designed andbuilt into the web services provided by the core services. The webservice client includes a username and password hash in the“Authenticate” web service request, and the response contains a sessionID. This session ID is then included in all following web services. Thesession ID is tied to the IP address of the mobile device and has arelatively short lifetime. This authentication may require a usernameand password.

The mobile product authentication may not be session oriented, andincludes sufficient information to perform routing. Each web servicerequest and response includes an authentication header that includes themobile product authentication. This may include the system ID and deviceID as described in “provisioning” procedure above. The device ID is ashared secret, so the presence of a valid device ID serves as theauthentication. The presence of the system ID allows all routing anddata lookup to be done quickly and efficiently. The recipient confirmsthat the device ID and system ID match the data stored in the tables. Ifthey do not, then the web service request is logged and discarded, and aresponse is generated with an “authentication failure” error.

There are two kinds of SMS messages. One is a message sent to a mobiledevice. These messages contain a 64-bit authentication token, which iscreated as a message digest, using as input the text of the SMS messagewith the device ID concatenated at the end. The mobile device confirmsthat the message digest matches its own, using its device ID. If it doesnot match then the message is logged and discarded. Another SMS messagetype includes messages from the mobile device. These messages are theresult of an action. For example, this procedure may be used to obtainthe phone number of the mobile device 20 from the envelope informationof the SMS message, if the mobile agent 10 does not have direct accessto the phone number. The action contains a one-time token (nonce) thatis included in the request. The originator of the action stores theassociation between the nonce and the device ID and system ID in atable. The mobile device 20 includes the nonce in its SMS message, aswell as a message digest of the message with its device ID concatenatedat the end. The eventual recipient of the SMS message uses the nonce tolook up the device ID and then verifies the validity of the messagedigest.

Communication between the mobile device 20 and the mobile agent router10 may provide, for a web service call, that the web serviceauthentication header be used. If this is an SMS response to a requestby the mobile agent router 10, the SMS authentication described for SMSresponses from the mobile device 20 to the mobile agent router 10 isused. The SMS authentication described for SMS messages from the mobileagent router 10 to a mobile device 20 is used.

For other communication examples, the servers 40A-40C communicating tothe mobile agent router may use a web service authentication header.Communication between the mobile agent router and the servers 40A-40Cmay also use the web service authentication header. During theprovisioning process, the mobile agent sends its device ID to the mobileagent router 10, which in turn sends it to the servers 40A-40C. Thistransaction may not be truly authenticated. The mobile agent router 10accepts the device ID without verification. However, the only “attack”it opens up is one where an “attacker” can put a mobile device 20 undercontrol of the “attacked” administrative user 121.

The mobile agent may store the system ID that is entered during theprovisioning procedure, and the device ID that it generates. The formatof SMS (text) messages that are sent to mobile devices in the mobileendpoint environment to initiate action on the devices is discussed indetail below. The system allows centralized, organized monitoring andadministration of mobile devices 20 in the communication environment.Part of this function requires the SaaS global manager (SGM) server toinitiate action on a mobile device 20 under management. The SGM servermay be any one or more of the servers 40A-40C illustrated in FIG. 1.

In operation, by sending the mobile device 20 a SMS message. The agentsoftware running on the mobile device 20 either intercepts this messageautomatically or the end user of the device uses the message details toinitiate the agent to begin performing various operations. The messageitself may include enough information for the agent to initiate therequired tasks.

According to example embodiments of the present invention, an example ofan SMS message transmitted to a mobile device 20 may include: KME 1.00000174ef 5d783e9708ffb691 aud( ) loc(1) get(P %20Dat.txt,1024). Eachcomponent of this message is separated by a space. The components aredescribed below. KME—a fixed identifier indicating that this is a KMEdevice control message, 1.00—the version number of the SMS messagingprotocol. This allows parsers to be backward-compatible as more featuresare added to the protocol. 000174ef—a 32-bit hexadecimal sequence ID.The server increments this number by one for each command sent to thedevice. Since SMS messages can be lost, duplicated, or sent out oforder, the agent uses this sequence to reliably order commands.5d783e9708ffb691—a 64-bit hexadecimal authentication token. This allowsthe device agent to verify that the message is a legitimate request.This is particularly important since a SMS caller ID can be spoofedeasily and certain functions can be very damaging. If the authenticationis not valid, the agent reports this fact to the server and discards themessage, and aud( ) loc(1) get(P%20Dat.txt,1024)—are commands to beapplied by the mobile device 20.

Each command is a name followed by a parameter list. String parametersare URL-encoded. A sequence ID may be a 32-bit sequence ID that isignored in the initial implementation of the agent. When implemented,the sequence ID will allow the agent to correctly process SMS messagesthat are dropped or received out of sequence. For example, the sequenceID may be implemented by waiting a fixed delay for the proper sequence,then directly contacting the server to retrieve commands if the waittimes out. Each command has a unique sequence ID. So if a single SMSmessage has three commands, then the sequence ID of the next messagewill be three larger than the previous sequence ID. The Sequence ID maybe a 32-bit number.

A 64-bit authentication token may be implemented to allow the agent toverify that a message is actually from the server and has not beenaltered. Authentication will be implemented in a way to preclude bothman-in-the-middle and replay attacks. It can probably be as simple as amessage digest (e.g., MD5) of the message plus a shared secret. Avariant could use a private key to avoid the shared secret exchange, ifdesired.

The inclusion of commands in the message is not strictly necessary,since the agent can contact the server to retrieve the commands.However, such a configuration may have several practical advantages,such as if the agent can proceed without contacting the server, this mayreduce bandwidth usage and charges. Also, SMS may work even if networkconnectivity is not available. Network connectivity may have beenmaliciously suspended, for example, in the case of a stolen device.

Each command may include a command name, which is a sequence of threelowercase letters. The commands may also include a left parenthesis,zero or more parameters, and two or more parameters separated by commas.Parameters are positional meaning that the parameter depends on thecommand. Some commands may have optional parameters. Since parametersare positional, optional parameters follow mandatory parameters. Omittedparameters can be indicated either by successive commas or by closingright parenthesis. Parameters are parsed as strings. The strings areURL-encoded. The implementation of the command may interpret the stringas a different data type using a standard parsing. The parameter datatypes for this specification include: i. String, ii. Integer, iii.boolean, i.e. “true” and “false”, iv. right parenthesis, etc. Thecommands implemented for this specification include “aud”—Audit deviceinformation.

The mobile UI uses the existing web service interface to leveragefundamental infrastructure, such as authentication. The mobile UI is anadd-on module that uses ASP pages to drop into an existing server. Oneor more third party services may be used as SMS gateways. Othernotification services may include the Apple® push notification serviceand/or the Android® cloud to device messaging and possibly other similarservices.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example graphical user interface according toexample embodiments. Referring to FIG. 8, screenshot 800 illustrates auser interface user to view various information related to variousmobile devices operating in the communication network. The mobile item802 provides access to the entire mobile menu. FIG. 9 illustrates the“Device List” function selected in the left pane menu 902.

There are three classes of device information, for example, a firstinformation class provides information available for all devices of alltypes, which is available for all devices being managed. A specificdevice may be missing one particular piece of information, but it isadvertised as being available in the programmatic interface for alldevices. This information can be used in all selections, filters, andreports.

A second class of information available for all devices of a specifictype may include information that is available for all devices of aspecific type. It is advertised as being available in the programmaticinterface for devices of that type. For example, a class of phones thatruns a certain operating system. This information may or may not beavailable for use in selections, filters, and reports.

A third class of information is information that is sporadicallyavailable for some devices. This information is sometimes available forsome devices. It can be viewed on a per-device basis by drilling downvia the user options presented in the UI, such information may not beused in selections, filters, or reports.

FIG. 10 illustrates the “Device Logs” function 1002 selected in the leftpane menu. This function brings up a list of the devices undermanagement and allows the selection of one of those devices. This isanalogous to the function of the “Agent Logs” page in the “Agent”section. Clicking on one of the phone numbers brings up the log for thatdevice. The log shows detailed information about the operations taken bythe mobile device agent.

FIG. 11 illustrates a list of a device log for a particular set of loginformation 1102. The controls above the log listing operate in the sameway as the controls on the corresponding “Agent Logs” page in the“Agents” section. FIG. 12 illustrates the “Import Contacts” option 1202which provides a convenient way to distribute the mobile agent to alarge group of existing users. On this screen, contact phone numbers andemail addresses can be imported from Gmail® contacts, Outlook® contacts,or comma-delimited (comma separated value) ‘.CSV’ files exported fromother mail clients.

Once a group of contacts has been imported, the contact information canbe used to distribute the information for downloading and installing themobile agent. The “Send SMS” screen 1302 illustrated in FIG. 13 allowsthe user to customize and send an SMS message with installationinformation to selected imported contacts. Similarly, the “Send Emails”screen option 1402 of FIG. 14 permits the user to send email presumablyknowing that the email will be read on the mobile device.

The other two entries in this category, “Delete” and “Rename”, are usedfor managing the server-side entries for mobile agents whose status isknown to have changed. These options are analogous to the “Delete” 1502and “Rename” 1602 screens in the “Install Agents” section of the current“Agent” area (see FIG. 16). The “Delete Accounts” option 1502 provides away to discard agent entries on the server as illustrated in FIG. 15.The “Device Location” operation provides a way to discover pertinentinformation about the use of the devices. The “Map Devices” functionillustrates the location of multiple devices on the same map, at theirlatest reported location, while the “Track Device” option provides thelocation of a single device over time.

FIG. 17 illustrates the first screen of the “Map Devices” function 1702,which is used to select which devices to map. Once a set of devices isselected for mapping, the “Show Map” option may be selected to providethe display shown in FIG. 18, which is a map with the geographic devicelocations as indicated by 1802. The device identification is shown as atag, as seen in FIG. 18. More extensive information about the device isavailable by clicking on the map pin. This brings up a caption 1902display as illustrated in FIG. 19. The “Track Devices” function 2002illustrates the trail of a single device over time. This begins with apage to select the device, as illustrated in FIG. 20.

After selecting a device and clicking on “Show Map”, the user isprovided with a map that includes the device location(s) over time 2102as illustrated in FIG. 21. Note that the same kind of pop-up informationillustrated in FIG. 19 is also available on this map.

A data backup and restore function may also be provided. The backupoperation is initiated using the “Backup Data” option 2202 asillustrated in FIG. 22. The user selects the items to be backed-up, thenselects the devices on which to back up the data, and then selects the“Backup data” option 2202. Restoring data is a different procedure. Theusual circumstances required that data be restored on one system, so theuser first selects the system to be restored and then selects the“Select device” 2302 option, as illustrated in FIG. 23. The dataavailable for restore is displayed for selection along with the time ofits last backup. The user selects the items to restore and clicks on“Restore data” in order to start the restore operation in FIG. 24.

Similar to the restore function, the “Device Recovery” function onlyapplies to a single device. However, the restore options 2502 for alldevices are the same, so they can be specified along with the actualdevice on the same page, as illustrated in FIG. 25. The options foremail configuration are also the same for all devices, but they can beapplied to multiple devices. The resulting configuration screen isillustrated in FIG. 26.

The operations of a method or algorithm described in connection with theembodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in acomputer program executed by a processor, or in a combination of thetwo. A computer program may be embodied on a computer readable medium,such as a storage medium. For example, a computer program may reside inrandom access memory (“RAM”), flash memory, read-only memory (“ROM”),erasable programmable read-only memory (“EPROM”), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (“EEPROM”), registers, hard disk, aremovable disk, a compact disk read-only memory (“CD-ROM”), or any otherform of storage medium known in the art.

An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor such thatthe processor may read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integralto the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anapplication specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”). In the alternative,the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components.For example FIG. 27 illustrates an example network element 2700, whichmay represent any of the above-described network components of FIGS.1-7.

As illustrated in FIG. 27, a memory 2710 and a processor 2720 may bediscrete components of the network entity 2700 that are used to executean application or set of operations. The application may be coded insoftware in a computer language understood by the processor 2720, andstored in a computer readable medium, such as, the memory 2710. Thecomputer readable medium may be a non-transitory computer readablemedium that includes tangible hardware components in addition tosoftware stored in memory. Furthermore, a software module 2730 may beanother discrete entity that is part of the network entity 2700, andwhich contains software instructions that may be executed by theprocessor 2720. In addition to the above noted components of the networkentity 2700, the network entity 2700 may also have a transmitter andreceiver pair configured to receive and transmit communication signals(not shown).

FIG. 28 illustrates an example method of operation. Referring to FIG.28, a method of performing automated administrative operations on amobile device is disclosed. The mobile device user may be unaware of anyupdates or other administrative operations being performed. The methodmay include determining via a hosted server that at least one actionneeds to be performed by at least one mobile device under management, atoperation 2802. The method may also include generating at least onemessage via the hosted server, the at least one message comprising theat least one action, at operation 2804. The method may also includetransmitting the at least one message to the mobile device undermanagement, at operation 2806, and receiving a result message from themobile device under management responsive to the transmitted at leastone message, the result message indicating that the action has beensatisfied at operation 2808.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed, it is to be understood that the embodiments described areillustrative only and the scope of the invention is to be defined solelyby the appended claims when considered with a full range of equivalentsand modifications (e.g., protocols, hardware devices, software platformsetc.) thereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: transmitting at least onemessage from a hosted server to a mobile device under management, the atleast one message: configured to invoke at least one process on themobile device under management in the background of an operating systemof the mobile device; comprising a function that initiates a programseparate from the operating system of the mobile device to perform aspecific function; and includes a web address used to downloadinformation related to an action to be performed by the at least onemobile device.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises asoftware application to be installed on the mobile device.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein the result message is a confirmation that thesoftware application has been installed.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein transmitting the at least one message comprises initiating a webservice protocol and establishing a private application programminginterface (API).
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least onemessage is a SMS message and comprises at least one of text informationand a telephone number of the mobile device.
 6. The method of claim 1,further comprising receiving a result message from the mobile deviceunder management responsive to the transmitted at least one message, theresult message comprising an indication that the action has beensatisfied.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises abackup operation that copies certain portion of the mobile stationmemory to a remote location.
 8. An apparatus, comprising: a transmitterconfigured to transmit at least one message to a mobile device undermanagement, the at least one message: configured to invoke at least oneprocess on the mobile device under management in the background of anoperating system of the mobile device; comprising a function thatinitiates a program separate from the operating system of the mobiledevice to perform a specific function; and comprising a web address usedto download information related to an action to be performed by the atleast one mobile device
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the actioncomprises a software application to be installed on the mobile device.10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the result message is aconfirmation that the software application has been installed.
 11. Theapparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to transmitthe at least one message by an initiation of a web service protocol andan establishment of a private application programming interface (API).12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least one message is a SMSmessage and comprises at least one of text information and a telephonenumber of the mobile device.
 13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein theprocessor is further configured to receive a result message from themobile device under management responsive to the transmitted at leastone message, the result message comprising an indication that the actionhas been satisfied.
 14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the actioncomprises a backup operation that copies certain portion of the mobilestation memory to a remote location.
 15. A non-transitory computerreadable storage medium configured to store instructions that whenexecuted cause a processor to perform: transmitting at least one messagefrom a hosted server to a mobile device under management, the at leastone message: configured to invoke at least one process on the mobiledevice under management in the background of an operating system of themobile device; comprising a function that initiates a program separatefrom the operating system of the mobile device to perform a specificfunction; and comprising a web address used to download informationrelated to an action to be performed by the at least one mobile device.16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15,wherein the action comprises a software application to be installed onthe mobile device.
 17. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium of claim 16, wherein the result message is a confirmation thatthe software application has been installed.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein transmitting theat least one message comprises initiating a web service protocol andestablishing a private application programming interface (API).
 19. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein theat least one message is a SMS message and comprises at least one of textinformation and a telephone number of the mobile device.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, furthercomprising receiving a result message from the mobile device undermanagement responsive to the transmitted at least one message, theresult message comprising an indication that the action has beensatisfied.